A doctor dismissed from his post at Kingston Hospital said he had reached a “brick wall” after a years-long fight to uncover why he was sacked.

Dr Robin Roberts used the Freedom of Information Act to try to force the release of the details around his 2006 dismissal, but lost an appeal after the hospital refused.

In October 2007 a tribunal said the disciplinary action leading to Dr Roberts’ sacking was “deliberate and calculated” and Kingston Hospital had disregarded “fundamental principles of fairness”.

Dr Roberts, 55, who lives and practises in Wimbledon, said he has no money left to take further legal steps.

He said: “We have looked at it from almost every angle and every time we have met a brick wall.

“It has been a huge distraction away from what I am meant to be doing which is providing a service for patients.”

And he said the amount of money the hospital had spent contesting his claim was “enormous”.

He said: “It is coming straight out of healthcare resources.”

The case has had a major impact on his life, both professionally and personally, Dr Roberts said.

He said: “I found myself, in 2008, unemployable locally – if you throw enough mud some will stick.

“We have had to move out of our house and rent that out. You name it. We have had to cut the cloth, so to speak.

“Obviously having a private clinic is the main reason I have remained afloat, but my referral business has all but disappeared now.

“In private practice one depends on a steady stream of referrals. One has to try and look at strategies for redeveloping that but in the current market that is very difficult.

“I have not been on the scene for so long now that many GPs assumed I had retired.”

A Kingston Hospital spokeswoman said: "Dr Roberts’ personnel file was given to his lawyers in 2007 and this information would not have been disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act as the Section 40 (1) exemption does not allow personnel information to be made available.

"However, this information could be disclosed under the Data Protection Act 1998.”